Female category-specific mortality at age 35-69 years in
the United Kingdom: 1950-2007
Comment: UK female mortality in middle age fell by 46% between 1967 and 2007. This corresponds to an absolute decline of 253 yearly deaths per 100 000 women in middle age,
some 33% of which is attributable to a decrease in coronary heart disease, 23% to a decrease in stroke, and 5% to a decrease in breast cancer (the UK's recent remarkable declines
in breast cancer mortality started only in about 1990). Mortality from liver cirrhosis increased over this period by a factor of 3½. Vascular mortality fell below the level of cancer mortality in 1981.
Categories: For descriptions of what the categories mean, and examples of the causes of death they include, see the
Information about Causes of Death page.
Method: Mortality rates calculated using data from the World Health Organization and the
United Nations Population Division,
then standardised for age (by taking unweighted averages of component rates) and smoothed (as weighted 3-year moving averages). For details, see
the Info page.
Caution: Trends can reflect not only changes in disease occurrence or treatment, but also changes in how a cause of death is
defined or coded.
Comment: UK female mortality in middle age fell by 46% between 1967 and 2007. This corresponds to an absolute decline of 253 yearly deaths per 100 000 women in middle age, some 33% of which is attributable to a decrease in coronary heart disease, 23% to a decrease in stroke, and 5% to a decrease in breast cancer (the UK's recent remarkable declines in breast cancer mortality started only in about 1990). Mortality from liver cirrhosis increased over this period by a factor of 3½. Vascular mortality fell below the level of cancer mortality in 1981.
Categories: For descriptions of what the categories mean, and examples of the causes of death they include, see the Information about Causes of Death page.
Method: Mortality rates calculated using data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Division, then standardised for age (by taking unweighted averages of component rates) and smoothed (as weighted 3-year moving averages). For details, see the Info page.
Caution: Trends can reflect not only changes in disease occurrence or treatment, but also changes in how a cause of death is defined or coded.